119-hr1451

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1451 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1451

 To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the 
 Quapaw Nation and certain members of the Quapaw Nation in accordance 
 with the recommendation of the United States Court of Federal Claims, 
 and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 21, 2025

 Mr. Brecheen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the 
 Quapaw Nation and certain members of the Quapaw Nation in accordance 
 with the recommendation of the United States Court of Federal Claims, 
 and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. QUAPAW TRIBAL SETTLEMENT.

    (a) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Claimant.--The term ``Claimant'' means each of--
        (A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in 
 paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et 
 al. v. United States, No. 13-51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 
 2013); and
        (B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation 
 identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in 
 Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13-51X (Fed. Cl. 
 Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.

    (2) Report.--The term ``Report'' means the report of the 
 Review Panel of the United States Court of Federal Claims in 
 Congressional Reference Case No. 13-51X, Bear, et al. v. United 
 States (Jan. 9, 2020), submitted to the House of 
 Representatives on January 31, 2020.

    (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
 of the Interior (or a designee).

    (b) Establishment.--There is established a Special Deposit Account 
in the Department of the Interior Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, 
to be known as the ``Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account''.
            (c) Administration.--The Secretary of the Interior by and through 
the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration shall administer all funds 
appropriated to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account.
            (d) Authorization of Payment.--In accordance with the Report, the 
Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the 
Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United 
States not otherwise appropriated. The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
transfer the single payment to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account 
established in subsection

    (b) .

    (e) Payment in Accordance With Report.--The payment under 
subsection
            (d) shall be made in accordance with the Report.

    (f) Distribution.--After the settlement proceeds are transferred to 
the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account specified under subsection

    (b) , the settlement proceeds shall be available for use, allocation, 
and distribution in accordance with the Claimants' distribution plan. 
The Claimants shall establish a distribution plan in accordance with 
subsection
            (d) and the procedures set forth in subsection

    (g) .

    (g) Distribution of Funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust 
Account.--

    (1) Mediation.--
        (A) No more than forty-five

    (45) days following 
 enactment of the Act, the Claimants shall submit the 
 issues of the allocation and distribution of the 
 settlement proceeds to a mutually agreed upon third-
 party mediator.
        (B) In the event the Claimants do not submit to a 
 mutually agreed upon third-party mediation within 
 forty-five

    (45) days pursuant to the preceding 
 subparagraph, then any Claimant may initiate 
 Secretarial Allocation procedures under paragraph

    (2) below.
            (C) Any mediation shall be confidential and non-
 binding on the Claimants without the written consent of 
 the Claimants, provided that nothing in this paragraph 
 shall be interpreted to bar the Quapaw Nation Business 
 Committee from consulting with the Quapaw Nation Indian 
 Council during mediation.
            (D) No statements made or information exchanged 
 during mediation shall be admissible in any future 
 legal or dispute resolution proceedings without the 
 written consent of the Claimants.
        (E) The Claimants shall mutually agree to conduct 
 mediation at a specified location. Each Claimant shall 
 pay its own costs, plus an equal share of the costs of 
 the mediator and the mediation facilities.
        (F) Following successful completion of any 
 mediation under this section, the Claimants may submit 
 a mutually agreed upon distribution plan to the 
 Secretary.
        (G) Upon submission of a mutually agreed upon 
 distribution plan to the Secretary, the Secretary shall 
 distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement 
 Trust Account to the Claimants in accordance with their 
 mutually agreed upon distribution plan.
        (H) In the event the Claimants do not reach a 
 mutually agreed upon distribution plan following 
 mediation, then any Claimant, through written 
 notification, may submit the matter to the Secretary 
 who shall determine a final distribution plan 
 allocating the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement 
 Trust Account in accordance with the Report based on 
 the procedures in paragraph

    (2) .

    (2) Secretarial allocation.--
        (A) Following an unsuccessful mediation pursuant to 
 the procedures in paragraph

    (1) , any Claimant may 
 petition the Secretary to determine final allocations 
 of settlement proceeds in accordance with subsection
            (d) .
        (B) The Secretary shall commence the Secretarial 
 Allocation process in accordance with this paragraph

    (2) if the Claimants do not reach a mutually agreed 
 upon allocation plan within 18 months following 
 enactment of the Act.
            (C) Upon the receipt of such a petition by a 
 Claimant, the Secretary or the Secretary's designee 
 shall order an allocation of the settlement proceeds 
 pursuant to the following steps:
            (i) Within thirty

    (30) days following the 
 Secretary's receipt of a petition to allocation 
 settlement proceeds after failed mediation, the 
 Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall 
 issue a scheduling order to establish a 
 schedule for a hearing and the issuance of a 
 final decision by the Secretary of a final 
 distribution plan.
            (ii) The Secretary's decision determining a 
 final distribution plan in accordance with 
 subsection
            (d) shall be made following a 
 hearing to be presided over by the Secretary or 
 the Secretary's designee. The hearing shall 
 occur no less than sixty

    (60) days following 
 the issuance of the scheduling order.
            (iii) At least fifteen

    (15) days prior to 
 the hearing, each Claimant shall submit to the 
 other Claimants and to the Secretary a copy of 
 all exhibits on which such Claimant intends to 
 rely at the hearing, a pre-hearing brief, and a 
 proposed final decision by the Secretary. The 
 proposed final decision shall include a 
 proposed distribution plan to be submitted to 
 the Secretary and shall be limited to proposed 
 rulings and distributions for each Claimant.
            (iv) Within fourteen

    (14) days after the 
 close of the hearing, each Claimant may submit 
 a post-hearing brief to the Secretary.
            (v) Following the hearing and post-hearing 
 brief, the Secretary shall issue a final 
 decision determining a final distribution plan 
 in accordance with subsection
            (d) within sixty

    (60) calendar days. The Claimants may mutually 
 agree upon a binding distribution plan at any 
 time before the Secretary's decision is issued.
            (vi) Within twenty

    (20) calendar days after 
 transmittal of the Secretary's final decision 
 to the Claimants, the Claimants may submit to 
 the Secretary any information necessary for the 
 implementation of the final distribution plan.
            (vii) Within sixty

    (60) days of the 
 Secretary's final decision determining a final 
 distribution plan, the Secretary shall 
 distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear 
 Settlement Trust Account to the Claimants 
 pursuant to the terms of the final distribution 
 plan.
            (viii) Any deadlines established in this 
 section may be extended by unanimous mutual 
 agreement of the Claimants.

    (3) Federal mediation & conciliation service.--In 
 discharging any duties under this Act, the Secretary is 
 authorized to utilize the Federal Mediation Conciliation 
 Service to provide technical support and dispute resolution 
 resources, provided, however, that the Secretary or the 
 Secretary's designee is responsible for approving and 
 implementing any mutually agreed-upon or binding distribution 
 plan reached pursuant to this Act.
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